


Desperate Measures

by Dellessa



Series: Hollow Victories [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Dubious Consent, M/M, Multi, Slavery, Sticky Sex, implied mech-preg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-02
Updated: 2012-05-02
Packaged: 2017-11-04 17:25:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/396332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellessa/pseuds/Dellessa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Optimus stepped into the internment camp...the ‘detention center’ as many had dubbed it. It made his tank churn to step inside. The whole thing sat wrong with him. He had argued the case before the council. They were all Cybertronians. The Decepticons had as much a right to life as any of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Desperate Measures

**Title:** Desperate Measures   
**Verse:** G1/IDW Fusion AU   
**Series:** None   
**Rating:M**   
**Warnings:** slavery. slash. sparklings. implied mech-preg. sticky. dub-con. Character Death. In other words the content is mature.   
**Pairings/Characters:** Thundercracker, Prowl, Jazz, Soundwave, Skywarp, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy.   
**Notes:**   
**Summary:** The Autobots win the war, but not everything is as it should be.   
**Words:** 8281   
**Prompt:** None   
  
Optimus stepped into the internment camp...the ‘detention center’ as many had dubbed it. It made his tank churn to step inside. The whole thing sat wrong with him. He had argued the case before the council. They were all Cybertronians. The Decepticons had as much a right to life as any of them. The War was over, they should have been allowed to integrate into society.  Freedom was the right of all sentient beings. Faction should play no part in it. But the council had overruled him. Metalhawk and his compatriots had seized control of the council. The NAILS.  They had no understanding. The halls were cold and sterile. He hurried down the hallway, he had to hurry or he would have been too late.   
  
“ STOP.”  He said, his voice raising for once, echoing through the hall.   
  
The two bots stopped, Starscream sagging between them, clearly drugged. “Prime? The exce--”   
  
“ Will not be happening. I will be taking responsibility for this prisoner.” Prime said, moving close enough to grab Starscream’s arm.     
  
“ But sir, we were ordered to---”   
  
“ Don’t but me.” Prime’s optics narrowed in a dangerous manner and they had that glint in them. The same glint they had before any battle. “Who are you?”   
  
“ I---I am Locks, sir, and this is Bolts.” Locks looked up at the much taller mech, clearly dazzled.   
  
“ Locks, I don’t care what you were ordered to do. I will be leaving with this prisoner.” His blue optics flashed brightly.   
  
“ My hero.” Starscream slurred. “Can’t you leave well enough alone?”   
  
Prime’s optics narrowed, ignoring Starscream. “I’m not leaving here without him, alive.”   
  
Locks sighed, nodding. “We cannot release any of them without the coding being added, sir.”      
  
Optimus looked at Starscream, who glared back. “Do what you must.”  

OoOoOoOo

  
The end of the war had not been kind to any of the Decepticons. Some more than others. Thundercracker and his trine had not been with Megatron when he had fallen in battle, they had been fighting off on their own. Thundercracker counted this lucky only in that it spared Starscream's life. Megatron had no trial. Had not even made it off of the battlefield alive. Thundercracker quaked to think of it. Things had fallen apart after that, and soon enough they were all rounded up and taken to a detention center...those that had not been off-lined. More than enough of their faction had met their end before making it to the prison. Some had taken their own lives once there. Thundercracker had resisted at first. Resisted the programing they had forced on him, the more he had resisted the tighter it seemed to bind him until he was more like a broken thing.   
  
Still...Thundercracker counted himself lucky. Many of his brethren had not been so fortunate. Far from it. The war had ended. They had lost. Lost so much, even their freedom. The council was just as corrupt as it had been before the war. Perhaps more so. Optimus Prime, to his credit, had fought for the Decepticons, but in the end they were stripped of their freedom, their citizenship, made chattel.   
  
He could have raged at it, but it was tiring to hold onto the anger for so long. He may be living in a gilded cage, but he had more freedoms than some. He wasn’t treated as a piece of furniture, or as a pet. He wasn’t beaten or abused.  If anything he was bored.  Bored and maybe a bit lonely.   Mostly lonely, he missed Skywarp and Starscream. He missed Ratbat. He had not seen them since Prowl had taken him from the detention center, and the latter was offlined. He tried not to think about THAT. His optics watered at the thought. The slave collar dampened bonds, just as it deactivated his comms and his transformation cog.     
  
Prowl worked long hours, leaving Thundercracker mostly alone in the apartment. It was not a small apartment, that much Thundercracker was thankful for. It was high up in one of the newly constructed towers of what used to be Iacon. Sometimes Thundercracker would stand out on the balcony just to feel the battering wind against his plating. It was as close to flight as he was going to get these days. The height was enough to burn away most of the flight lust. It still ached though, burning through his lines. Sometimes he looked down from the height, and it was tempting to just let himself tumble off. His brothers’ barely there presence in the bond was the only thing that kept him from it. If Prowl knew he would never be let out again.   
  
By the time Prowl arrived back home Thundercracker was curled up on the couch, half in recharge. This was nothing new. The seeker was often in this position or similar when he arrived home. Prowl watched Thundercracker for a long moment, his spark clenching. It was tempting to reach out and touch him, his fingers itched to do so. “Thundercracker?”   
  
Thundercracker startled, his optics brightening. “Sorry, Master. I did not hear you come in.”   
  
Prowl frowned at the title. It always left him feeling faintly ill. This was not what they had fought the war for. Far from it. Optimus was beyond troubled by the council’s insistence. He had fought, he still fought, but it did little good. Optimus did what he could. They all did what they could, but it was never enough. “It’s fine.” He said stiffly, and took a seat at the end of the couch. He watched the seeker for a moment. Thundercracker looked healthy, in body at least. His plating gleamed faintly in the half-light of the room. The other slaves could not be said to share the same luck. For once in his life it made Prowl less than proud to be an Autobot. They had won...what? To have the same situation replay itself? It made him sick to his tank, and half inclined to purge. They had been able to guarantee the safety of some of the cons, now slaves. Some, but not enough. The Decepticon army was just too large, and the Autobots that saw that this was an injustice...too few.   
  
Thundercracker sat up, looking increasingly uncomfortable at Prowl’s silence and how intently he was being watched. The slave programming pinged at him, causing him to fret. Intellectually, he knew he had done nothing wrong, but the programming played havoc with his emotions, “Have I done something wrong, master?” The programing urged him to grovel, to beg for forgiveness of whatever slight he had given his master. He hunched his shoulders, fighting it for as long as he could. He gritted his denta, and whimpered as he lost the fight, and dropped to the floor, crawling until he stopped before Prowl. “Master? I’m sorry. Please, don’t be angry. Please. Just tell me what I did wrong....I won’t do it again. I promise.” He pressed his face plates against Prowl’s thigh, nearly keening as he kneeled there.   
  
Prowl ex-vented loudly. This was, unfortunately, a scene that played out far too often for his own comfort. “You have not done anything wrong.”  He pet the mech’s head, for lack of anything else to do. Scolding him would only make it worse, and no matter how much he denied that the bot did no wrong the programming would not allow him to accept it. “Thundercracker? Look at me.” He tilted the seeker’s chin up, grasping it in his hands gently. “You have done nothing wrong.”   
  
“ But---but I don’t do anything at all. You won’t even---”   
  
“ No.”   
  
“ But---”   
  
“ You are not some pleasure-bot. I’m not...going to...” Prowl said his tone angry.  The anger faded away nearly as soon as soon as it welled up. “I saw your trine-mates today. They looked well.”   
  
Red optics flashed. “They are?” He had been afraid to even ask after them.They had still been in the detention center when he had left.   
  
“ Yes. Optimus managed to get Starscream.” He had barely stopped the execution, but he was not going to tell the Seeker that. He was fragile enough. “And Soundwave and Skywarp are staying with Jazz.” His lip twitched up in amusement. Jazz had his hands full with the two mechs and all of the cassettes.   
  
Thundercracker took the news, and seemed to curl in on himself. “Thank you, master.”   
  
“ Don’t call me that. Please. Just Prowl.” He leaned in, touching the collar. “I will fix this.  As much as I can.”   
  
“ There is nothing to fix.” Thundercracker flinched. “You should---”   
  
“ Everything needs fixed. This isn’t how it was supposed to be.” Prowl said, petting the seeker’s helm, a scowl inching on to his faceplates. “I promise that at least.”   
  
The seeker ducked his helmet. He wished he could believe that was true. Prayed to Primus as he had not in millennium. Finally he looked up, meeting Prowl’s gold gaze. “My trine mates are safe. That is enough. Thank you for letting me know, master.”   
  
“ So cowed.” Prowl sighed, bending down he pulled the seeker into a hug. “We will muddle through this together.”   
  
Thundercracker nodded, looking up at him. “Did---did something happen today?”   
  
“ The NAILS. Still. They can’t leave well enough alone. They thwart Optimus at every turn.” Simply thinking about it made his core temperature rise in annoyance. “They couldn't be bothered to fight in the war and somehow think it is their right to administer the world afterwards. They have made---Things are just as bad as before. Worse.”   
  
Thundercracker looked up at him. “I am sorry, master.”   
  
“As am I, Thundercracker. As am I.”

OoOoOoOo

  
Skywarp looked out the window. Through the metaliglass to the city below. The bustling Autobot city. Soundwave’s remaining cassettes curled around him, half in recharge. The gluttons had all consumed far too many energon treats. Ravage sprawled across the floor, his limbs twitching; clearly he was in a flux but Skywarp didn’t touch him. He didn’t move move from his position in the window seat, he didn’t shift Rumble or Frenzy. They deserved what peace they could get.  He knew how much they all mourned the loss of their siblings. He knew Soundwave did most of all. Skywarp’s own spark pulsed unhappily in his chest. They had all lost so much, and the collars about their necks were a heavy reminder of that fact.   
  
“ Jazz: Home soon.” Soundwave said, as he entered the room, and gathered up Rumble and Frenzy. The little bots never woke as they were cradled against their carrier’s chest.     
  
“ I know.” Skywarp said, finally turning to study his fellow captive. Skywarp worried for him, more than himself, certainly. Soundwave was too quiet. He had always been a bot of few words, but now...it scared Skywarp.   
  
Life as a pampered pet was not hard. Soundwave, though, was having a far harder time adjusting. He watched the other bot head towards the rooms he shared with his cassettes with worry in his optics. Soundwave had been through much. He had been there when their lord had fallen. Skywarp couldn’t quite imagine. He had lost lovers in his time, but not someone he truly loved.     
  
Skywarp watched as Soundwave got a cube of energon ready for Jazz and set out a tray of gelled energon treats he had made earlier that day. Skywarp was glad he had at least found something to occupy his time. It was better than the ceaseless keening. He had spent much of their first days here sedated. Jazz had thought the cassette carrier would take his own life, and take the rest of his cassettes down with him. Skywarp at least was relieved that had never happened.     
  
Skywarp nudged Ravage with his foot, “Wakey, wakey!”     
  
Ravage gave him a pained look, and heaved himself up. The cassette hopped up onto the window-seat, curling against the seeker and casting a jaded eye out the window. “I miss them.”     
  
“ We all miss them.” Skywarp vented. “They are with the allspark. And one day we will be with them in the well.” He knew he was chattering, he couldn’t help himself, and most of the time he didn’t know what to say about their loss. He kicked himself inside, he was no good at comforting his own offspring, but he tried. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw’s loss was hard enough to deal with, but the loss of Ratbat, tiny little Ratbat. Skywarp shook for a moment, thankful that his own trinemates were still alive as much as he mourned the sparklings. He couldn’t bring himself to be guilty that his own bitlet had survived. Not that he was much of a bitlet these days.   
  
Ravage looked up at him, and Skywarp couldn't help but feel like crawling out of his own armour.  “You like him...don’t you...”   
  
“ Ravage...”   
  
“ He owns us.”   
  
He sighed, “I know. I know.”   
  
“ You feel the same way about...”   
  
“ Stop reading my mind, brat.”   
  
Ravage barked a laugh. “Maybe you can make him happy. He hurts all the time. Hurts so much.”      
  
Skywarp sighed. He knew what could help Soundwave, but he was not it. “Brat.”     
  
“ Ravage: desist. Stop teasing your sire.” Soundwave said, but there was no rancor behind it. His voice was almost musical without the vocoder. He ducked his head, not meeting Skywarp’s optics. They had taken so much from him. The mask and visor had been one of the first things removed. Skywarp could understand why he had worn such things. His face was very...expressive, always had been. His optics were the most interesting shade of amber. Not quite gold, not quite red. He was handsome, surprisingly so. Skywarp had never had much thought about what Soundwave looked without the visor and mask, he had seen that face often enough and he was more inclined to like a personality than a pretty face. Lately though Skywarp had certainly had an eyeful of both this mech and their master without their visors. Of the two Soundwave was the more reassuring, he was at least familiar.      
  
Jazz was an attractive mech himself. Very much so, but his white optics....Skywarp understood why he kept them hidden. Primus touched or cursed. he was not sure. It didn’t stop Skywarp from hopping into berth with the mech first chance he got, in any case. It was unlikely to stop him when he did it again. And Again. And again. His spark fluttered happily at that thought. He could not bring himself to be guilty over it.   
  
Ravage huffed, giving his sire an exasperated look before slinking away, going to join the twins. “You two need to stop dancing around each other,” he said, looking back at them for one moment before slipping through the door.   
  
“ We aren’t, you aft.” Skywarp said, glaring, before looking back up at Soundwave.   
  
“ Whatever... Uncle Warp.” Ravage called back before the door slid shut with a loud snick.   
  
“ Uncle...Uncle...you bratling. You know very well I’m your Genitor.”   
  
“ I know no such thing.” Ravage yelled through the door leaving Skywarp rolling his optics.   
  
Skywarp shook his head and patted the seat beside him, letting Soundwave curl up against him, clinging. He had more things to worry about than his bratty offspring with Soundwave. Soundwave himself was more of a concern. Skywarp doubted he even realized the coolant was flowing from his optics. “Bad day, huh, sweetspark?”   
  
Soundwave vented heavily.  “Soundwave: Failure. Miss them so much.”     
  
“ I miss them too. Star misses them...and you. And Megatron.” He thanked Primus for the billionth time that they never bonded. He couldn’t stomach losing his nephews and brother all in one go. The creation-bond between the sparklings and Soundwave was so much stronger than normal.  He rocked his brother’s mate and wished he could fix it all.   
  
Soundwave only cried harder. A very bad day indeed. “Council: disgusting.They killed them. Monsters: extinguished my sparklings.” He sobbed, clinging to Skywarp who crooned at him in seeker-cant. The sound seemed to soothe the mech.     
  
Jazz finally came inside, and vented much like a human sigh. “Not a good day, my mech?”     
  
Skywarp gave him  a wan smile, even as he hugged Soundwave tighter. “Far from it.”   
  
Soundwave’s vent’s hitched and he untangled himself from Skywarp. He looked away, “Jazz: home late, left energon for you.”   
  
Jazz nodded, his visor flashing. “It was...a busy day. But I did talk ta Optimus, and Prowl.  Thundercracker and Starscream are doing...well okay as can be expected. And I set up a meeting date. I thought ya could use it. Being trapped in here all the time isn’t healthy.”   
  
Soundwave shivered, “Jazz: this is...much appreciated.” He ducked his head, trying to hide the coolant leaking from his optics again. “Sou---Soundwave: Requests permission to recharge.”   
  
“ Sounders, how many times do I have ta tell you...you don’t have to ask my permission?”  Soundwave ducked his head, nearly running out of the room.     
  
Jazz sighed once the door shut behind Soundwave leaving him alone with Skywarp. “I fear for him.”   
  
Skywarp looked away, ducking his head. “So do I.” He shook and did not resist when Jazz pulled him into a hug, holding on tightly. “I’m so scared, Jazz.” That admission hurt. “I...he just hurts so much.”   
  
Jazz smoothed a hand across Skywarp’s wings in a comforting motion. “I know, brightspark. I  know.” He leaned in, catching the seeker’s lips.

OoOoOoOo

  
Optimus Prime was at wits end. His erstwhile guest was being difficult at best. He wondered for the millionth time why he listened to Prowl. This was not a good idea, not in the least, and at the same time he could not have left the seeker to the fate the council wanted for him. “At least fuel. Please.” Optimus said, venting loudly.   
  
Starscream regarded him with narrowed optics. “Is it drugged?”   
  
“ Oh, for the love of Primus! Why would I drug you?”   
  
“ To have your way with me.” The seeker declared shrilly.   
  
“ Starscream. Shut up and fuel.” Optimus sighed getting his own cube. “I saw Prowl today.”   
  
“ Do you think I care about your second in command? I ca---”   
  
“ How did Megatron not strangle you? Do you ever----just hush for one moment.” He ex-vented loudly. The Vosian prince was trying at best. A brat. “He has Thundercracker. I thought you might like to know that your wingmates were safe.”   
  
Starscream hunched in on himself. “Safe is relative when we are all in...when we are...”   
  
“ Left to the whims of others?”   
  
Starscream scowled at him, “I hate you.”   
  
“ So you have said, over and over.” Optimus said in a tired tone.   
  
“ I **HATE** you!”   
  
“ Yes, yes. I am well aware.”Optimus shook his head, the collar had done nothing to tame the Decepticon Air Commander. “Be that as it may, we are stuck together for a while. Perhaps you should get used to the idea.”   
  
“ I’m not going to be your berth-warmer, Prime.”   
  
“ That...was the farthest thing from my mind, Starscream. The last thing I want in my berth is you.”   
  
“ Aft!” Starscream shrieked, slapping Optimus across the face. The collar electrified, sending the seeker to the floor shrieking.     
  
“ Ouch. I hope it was worth it.” Optimus said casually, watching the seeker whimper and curl into a ball.   
  
“ Oh, it was.” Starscream croaked. “There is a reason Megatron never strangled me. Not one **YOU** will ever know. I wouldn’t give you that pleasure.”   
  
"I'm aware. There was traces of his transfluid still in your system when they brought you to the detention center." Optimus said in a snarky tone only to be slapped again. The seeker shrieked, collapsing once more.   
  
"Still...wor-worth....it." The seeker managed to grit out. Optimus would give him this, he was tenacious. A second shock of that caliber should have been enough to take a combiner down.

OoOoOoOo

  
They all met at Optimus’ place of residence. More specifically the crystal garden. It was a beautiful place, but Thundercracker barely noticed, his optics had gravitated at once to his brothers. His brothers and Soundwave. They had come together, touching, hugging, all four bots, the cassettes at their center.   
  
The Autobots had been puzzled at best. They had expected such behavior from the trine, but not for it to extend out to the cassette carrier and his cassettes. It only cemented a personal theory that Jazz had in his processor and one that made him uncomfortable in light of things where the cassettes were concerned.     
  
They stayed that way for the longest time before Soundwave and Starscream drifted off together, Rumble and Frenzy soon after them. The two bots sat together, helms pressed together as the two cassettes pressed close.   
  
The Autobots watched, frowning. “I thought they hated each other.” Prowl finally said, clearly confused by the situation. Jazz was trying not to giggle at the look in his optics, the one that said he was five astroseconds from a fritz.   
  
"Eh, they both miss Megatron, and Starscream hasn't seen the little sparks since you separated them. You’d wanna spend time with your family too." Skywarp said flippantly, his optics widening once it was out of his mouth. “Ooops.”     
  
Ravage let out a whine and pressed closer to Skywarp. The flier crouched down and pulled the cassette close even as Thundercracker let out a curse, and hit his brother upside the helm.     
  
“ Explain yourself.” Prowl said, eyeing Thundercracker, who flinched.   
  
The slave programming dragging the words from him. “Soundwave, Starscream and Megatron were mates. The only reason they didn’t bond was because of the war. Rumble and Frenzy aren’t symbionts they are...they are sparklings. We hid them away because we didn’t want to make them targets. We...we were the only ones that knew. Aside from Hook. They...wouldn't have been safe with our faction if they were found out. I mean, Rumble and Frenzy are Megatron’s offspring in all senses of the word, they share his coding. They would have been too much of a temptation to someone looking to usurp him. And your faction...well...”   
  
“ Just Rumble and Frenzy?” Jazz asked, his mind racing. He had suspected, and his worst fear had been confirmed. He looked down, touching Skywarp’s shoulder. “Ravage?  Is yours?”   
  
Skywarp shivered, leaning into the touch. “He’s mine.” He clung to Ravage, who whined again. He ducked his head, looking at Thundercracker. “Buzzsaw and Laserbeak were Starscream’s, and...”   
  
“ Ratbat was mine.” Thundercracker said, shaking, his optics filling with liquid. “Our seekerlets were deactivated at the detention center.” He shook harder as he said it. Somehow saying it made it so much more real. “You killed him.” Skywarp scooted closer, pulling his brother against him.     
  
The Autobots looked at each other, horrified.

OoOoOoOo

  
Thundercracker hunched into himself, trying his best to hide from the searching Prowl. He didn’t feel so lucky today. He didn’t want energon or to talk to Prowl. His spark felt tiny and cold in his chest. He already missed his brothers and his nephews. He felt so alone without them, so isolated. Not for the first time he wished he could just curl up and offline. He hated this, hated what the world had become, and more than that he hated the council. Hated that they had destroyed the one thing he loved most in this world.     
  
“ Thundercracker?”  Prowl asked, finally finding him curled up in the corner. “Please come out.”   
  
“ Master?”   
  
Prowl cast the seeker a worried look. He was scared to leave the seeker alone. He couldn't vocalize it, but he was. “I won’t be going into work today.”   
  
“ Oh, okay, Master.” He ducked his helm.     
  
Prowl sighed, “Jazz wants to take the Cassettes...the sparklings, to get them put in proper frames.”   
  
Thundercracker stiffened. “He can’t, they will be collared.”   
  
“ No...Optimus will make sure they aren’t. I can promise you that.” He sighed, “Jazz...feels very responsible. It isn’t as if he is going to put them out.” Prowl wasn’t sure how he felt about any of it, and he had this niggling feeling that Jazz was far more involved with the purple seeker than he should have been. He had that look in his optics everytime he looked at Skywarp.     
  
Thundercracker whimpered. “They will be hurt...”   
  
“ No, I promise you they won’t.”  Prowl said, petting the seeker’s helm. He was surprised when the seeker wrapped his arms around his waist, clinging.   
  
“ You promise?” Thundercracker asked, looking up at him. He trusted Prowl. He had never lied to him, not once.     
  
“I promise.” Prowl said softly.

OoOoOoOo

  
Skywarp trembled under Jazz’s ministrations,  arching up into the black and white’s touch. It was always intense between them and this time was no different. Jazz slammed into him, leaving the seeker keening, crying out, his valve clenching around Jazz’s spike as the first overload hit him. Jazz clung to him, Skywarp’s overload triggering his own. They lay, tangled together for what seemed like an eternity. Neither in any hurry to move. Jazz finally pulled away but Skywarp held on to him.   
  
“ Please, just a little longer.” Skywarp shivered, his valve clenching again. It fluttered around Jazz’s spike, a cocky little grin on his faceplates as he felt it pressurize again.   
  
“ You are impossible.” Jazz chuckled and kissed him until they were both venting heavily, core temperature soaring all over again.   
  
“ No...I’m making up for lost time.” Skywarp said, rolling his hips. “I need you.”   
  
Jazz laughed, thrusting in to the seeker again, it was rough and quick this time, leaving them both screaming in the end.   
  
Finally Jazz rolled off the seeker and tucked himself against him. He could feel their sparks whirling in time, and he felt guilty for the longest of moments. He shouldn’t want this. He shouldn’t be doing this. He **KNEW** Optimus Prime would not approve. He would demand that Jazz stop, and maybe even make him send Skywarp away. If anything it made him want to cling tighter.     
  
“ What’s wrong, sweetspark?” Skywarp murmured, petting Jazz’s plating.   
  
Jazz offlined his optics, and was silent for a very long  moment. “I---I’m not---you want this don’t you?  I mean it’s not...”   
  
Skywarp sighed, “It’s not the slave coding, if that’s what you’re asking. It doesn’t work like that.  We can make our own choices, as the dents on your Prime should have proven to you. I can fight against it if I chose too. What is there to fight though? I want you. I want this.”   
  
“ But Thundercracker...”   
  
“ Was a bit on the glitched side to begin with. My brother hid it well, but he was more high strung than Starscream in some ways. And he has always admired Prowl.” Skywarp shrugged and nuzzled into Jazz.   
  
Jazz relaxed against him.  

 

[Artwork by Bloodydragon117 on deviantart.](http://bloodydragon117.deviantart.com/)

 

OoOoOoOo

  
Soundwave curled up on his berth, his sparklings curled up around him. Rumble and Frenzy had long since drifted into recharge. They slept too much these days. He could not blame them. He wished he could do the same. His spark hurt, and for once in his life he did not know what to do. He had been with Megatron and Starscream so long, he was adrift without them. The only consolation being that his remaining bitlets and Starscream were safe. Seeing his mate had made it that much more real. Far beyond any reassurance Skywarp had given him.   
  
It was not that he did not trust Skywarp. He trusted the seeker implicitly. They had been friends and lovers before he had ever been welcomed into Megatron and Starscream’s berth.   
  
“ Creator?” Ravage’s voice was soft.   
  
Soundwave had not even realized he was awake. With the damper blocking his telepathy he felt as though he were going through the world half-blind. “Ravage: should be recharging.”   
  
The mech let out a little uneasy checkle. “I know, carrier. It evades me though. I---I worry about my genitor.  It’s not right. He shouldn’t...”   
  
Soundwave sighed and hugged his eldest to him, “Ravage: Worries too much. Skywarp: Surprisingly capable.”   
  
“ Capable he may be, but he’s still fragging the Autobot. How can he---how---after---I just don’t understand.”   
  
“ Situation: difficult.”   
  
“ I know.  I really do know.” Ravage said softly. “Why can’t you just be with him?  You care for each other, and then he wouldn’t---”   
  
“ Ravage: Desist.” It was an old argument, and one his sparkling was not going to win.   
  
“ I know, I know...you love him, but you aren’t IN love with him. It isn’t what someone wants to hear about their creators.” The feline said, his tone closer to moping. “I don’t want him to be with the Autobot. It’s not right. It’s not right at all.”   
  
“Ravage: desist. Not your concern.” He hugged his creation tightly.  

OoOoOoOo

  
Starscream glared at the Autobots across the table. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He ground out gnashing his denta together. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”   
  
“ No. We can’t if we want to fix the situation. We need a record of your version of events.” Optimus said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. Of the three Starscream was always the hardest to deal with. Prowl was getting Thundercracker’s version of the events and Jazz had already gotten a version from Skywarp. They were matching up so far.   
  
“ **FINE.** It was all a bit of a blur. Megatron went down on the other side of the battlefield. Sniper fire. It’s happened before, but this time he didn’t get up. They hit him in a weak spot on his armour...and well you know this. We were not faring as well on the other side of the battlefield either. I was hit by something...I don’t know what. It made my systems seize up. The shock of it hit my trinemate and we went down. We were injured, but nothing dire. The fall knocked us offline. By the time we came to we...and the rest of combatants, were being rounded up. We somehow located Soundwave and the cassettes. The fliers had been injured. Brought down the way we were.”   
  
“ When you say fliers?” Jazz asked.   
  
“ I mean the seekerlets, yes. Ratbat, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw were sparklings; thought my twins were getting close to being grown. Not as old as Ravage, he is the eldest of the bunch, but they would still have only been a frame or two from their mechhood. We disguised them as symbionts in the hopes of protecting them. Against your faction, and sadly as our own as well.  We were afraid that---that they would be used against us. So...we hid them away.” His wings twitched  in agitation. “They took us all straight away to the detention center and processed us through. Then...I...I had the twins and Thundercracker was holding Ratbat. They...took them away. There was a scuffle and the sparklings were crying for us, but they just took them away.  They said they were going to repair them. They weren’t hurt that bad. But they cried and screamed when they took them away. They cried down the bond, and it only got worse. It seemed to go on forever. They were so scared, and then they were...they were gone. Laserbeak first---I can only surmise since he caused the most trouble. I felt the creation bond snap...and then Buzzsaw was...just...beyond hysterical.” He vented hard, and rubbed at his optics, “I couldn’t even comfort my own child through the bond. I---that isn’t something you can console them over. Not that. Not what he saw, or the bond breaking. And then he was gone too. Not too long after that Thundercracker lost it. Ratbat was his only sparkling, and he was the youngest. Practically a new spark. He was a, what is the human word? Toddler? Thundercracker only felt a small portion of what Ratbat felt...and we felt it through him. It was...I don’t have the words.  Thundercracker just---just kept throwing himself against the bars. Kept doing it until they had to sedate him. And I was so scared they were going to offline him too.” Starscream’s vents hitched.  “Then...then they tried to lie to us and said they were too gravely injured. That they had passed into the well on their own from their injuries. Like we wouldn’t know what they did.” His wings shivered, and he stopped for a moment, hugging himself. “We felt what they went through. I don’t know why they even bothered.”   
  
Jazz put a hand on the jet-former’s wing, barely touching it in what he hoped to be a comforting motion. Starscream flinched away like a hurt thing.   
  
“Please. No more.” The seeker’s voice cracked, going to static. “I...I...I can’t talk about it any longer.”

OoOoOoOo

  
The chevroned mech did a double-take. Cycled his optics, and looked again at what was before him. “They are lucky their sparks were not damaged,” he finally said, looking down at the mechling before him. The mechling he had previously thought to be a drone. “He should be in a...nearly an adult frame...not a frame meant for a drone.” He murmured.     
  
Jazz hmmm’d. “Do you think you could do a transfer?”     
  
Ratchet looked at him for a moment, and rolled his optics. “Certainly.  I could.”   
  
“ But will you?”   
  
“ They---are Cons.”   
  
“ They are sparklings. Children. Please, Ratchet?”   
  
The medic sighed, “Oh, stop it Jazz, you know I will help you. I will help them.”   
  
Jazz beamed, “I knew I could count on you, Ratch.”

OoOoOoOo

  
Ratchet watched the three younglings twitching nervously on the medical berths. Their new frames on a berth beside them. He nodded to First Aid and Hoist. It had not taken much at all to convince them that this would be the right thing to do. The younglings were scared, it was a palpable thing in the medbay, that left them all twitching.     
  
“ Come on, scraplet, time to get this show on the road.” Ratchet’s lip-plate hitched up as the human saying left his vocals.   
  
Rumble groaned, looking towards his brother, “Maybe we can do this another time?”   
  
“ You can’t keep putting it off, spritelet.” First Aid said, already at Ravage’s side, putting the panther-former in stasis.     
  
“ I’m not a spritelet.”  Frenzy said in a grumpy voice. “I don’t see...”   
  
“ It’s okay to be scared. I know you don’t trust us...but we really will get you through this.” Hoist said, as he prepped the new framed, hooking them up to the monitors one at a time. “Your creators and Jazz trust us enough to let us do this. So, just relax.”   
  
The twins looked at him for a moment before settling themselves on the berth, with one final look at each other. They were still scared, and Ratchet could not blame them. Considering what had happened to their siblings he didn’t blame them at all. Biting back his hatred for the council, it would do no good while he was operating, he put first Rumble, and then Frenzy into stasis. “Come on team, we have work to do.

OoOoOoOo

  
The procedure had gone more smoothly than Ratchet could have hoped for. He watched the monitor for a moment, and checked the younglings’ systems. The sparks were settling into the systems far quicker than he had even hoped for. It had been touch and go with Ravage for a moment, but that was to be expected. His spark had been far too big for the frame he had been placed in. Ratchet doubted that their creators had understood what danger they had put the sparklings in; Starscream was a scientist, not a doctor. It could have easily killed any of them. As it was, the twins’ sparks were stunted. He wish he had never seen such a thing, but before the war it had been common enough in pleasure-slaves. Their sparks forced into smaller, sleeker frames. Left to it it could shorten the bots lives infinitely. As it was they caught it in time. He hoped.   
  
“ Well, what do you think?”  He asked First Aid, who was scanning Ravage.     
  
“ A joor of monitoring them before we bring them out. Their systems should be synchronized by then.”   
  
“I bow to the expert.” Ratchet said, smirking.

OoOoOoOo

  
They brought Ravage out of stasis first. He wobbled as Ratchet helped him sit up. “Steady, youngling.”     
  
Ravage gripped the edge of the berth, trying to steady himself.   
  
“ Primus.” The youngster breathed. “I’m...tall.”   
  
Ratchet snorted, “More so than before, I’m sure. Just sit a bit and let it all settle before you try anything, I’m going to wake up your brothers.”   
  
First Aid scanned Ravage, his eyes darting to Ratchet where he was talking to Frenzy. “Not so bad?” He finally asked, looking at the mechling. His frame suited him, at least in his estimation, then again he had helped build it with Ravage’s input. Colors were already bleeding in as the nanites adjusted. By the time his scan was done the frame was nearly all black. He looked up, meeting Ravage’s gold eyes. “How do you feel?”   
  
“ Like slag.” Ravage snorted. “Possibly worse.”   
  
“ Give it a joor, it should settle in.” He patted the mechling’s arm. “Your spark is fully integrated, so it should be a smooth transition from here.”     
  
Ravage ducked his head, “Thank you.”   
  
First Aid beamed, “You are more than welcome, youngling.”

OoOoOoOo

  
Ravage felt ungainly for the first time he could remember. The distance to the ground was disorienting, and walking as a biped was disconcerting in itself. Ratchet had said it would take time for his spark and processor to adjust to the new frame. In his mind that day could not come soon enough. He was one frame away from an adult frame. Not as big or bulky as either of his creators. He never would be with how his old frame had stunted his spark’s growth. Still he was far bigger than a minibot. Ratchet said his finally frame would be the size of a Praxian. Not a small bot, but not a large one either. He felt like preening, he had worked with Ratchet’s team to design his current form, it had the sleekness of his old frame, and once he was used to it he knew he would appreciate the change.     
  
His younger siblings were not so lucky. They were not mini-cons...certainly, but they would be on the very small side for even a minibot once their spark was done growing. They had quite a few frames to go, at least three from what Ratchet had told him. The twins did not seem to mind or care, or even to notice a change even though they had doubled in size overnight.   
  
“ Ravage?” Skywarp watched him as he crossed the crystal garden. “Are you---”   
  
“ I’m fine, genitor. Still a bit disoriented, that is all. Ratchet said it might be awhile before---before I get used to this.” Ratchet had said a lot of things. Rumble and Frenzy did not seem to be having any of Ravage’s difficulties either. They chased each other through the garden laughing. It left their more quiet brother shaking his head.   
  
“ You sure?” Skywarp asked, searching his youngling’s face.     
  
“ I’m sure. I...I can’t say I’m sorry for this. It is just a lot of change to accept.” Ravage leaned into the older bot, closing his optics when Skywarp pulled him close like he used to do when Ravage was a mere sparkling. “I’m scared, sire. So scared.”   
  
“ We all are, bitlet.”     
  
Ravage nodded against the jet-former’s chest. “I know, sire.”   
  
“ Jazz will keep us safe though.”   
  
“ I don’t---I don’t understand why you can have such faith in him. He is the enemy.”   
  
“He has a good spark. And he isn’t the enemy. He’s really not.” Skywarp gave a small chuckle, finding it hard to believe who he was defending. “Neither is Optimus. Neither is Prowl. Neither was Ratchet or any of his team. They want to help us. They want to make this right. They’re good bots and our family is lucky to have them.”

OoOoOoOo

  
It was tedious work the first time. Ratchet worked on Thundercracker first,  he had been clear he would not put up with Starscream’s squawking or Skywarp’s chatter. According to him one was as annoying as the other. Thundercracker though, he was silent. A pool of calm. Ratchet had plugged the datapad in to Thundercracker’s medical port a joor ago and was still going through code after code of data. Carefully erasing and adjusting. The others would be simple enough, he would be able to upload what amounted to a patch, but he had to build it the first time. Ratchet glanced up from the pad, “I think...it’s time for a break. You need to fuel?”   
  
“ Please.” Thundercracker’s vents wheezed out sigh. He looked about the room. It was tidy and austere, much like the mech himself. His hand shook as he took the cube Ratchet offered him.   
  
“ It won’t be much longer, I promise.” The medic said in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.   
  
Thundercracker sipped on the energon rather than answer. “Thank you.” He said, red optics meeting blue. “I---we really appreciate this. I know...I know you didn’t have to help us.”   
  
Ratchet nodded, “No, I didn’t, but I didn’t fight all of those vorns for this to happen.”   
  
Thundercracker fidgeted. “Maybe some of us deserve it. Maybe it’s Primus’ way of punishing---”   
  
“ Don’t start with that slag.”  Ratchet said, eying the seeker. “No one deserves this. No one.” The medic looked  away. “What was done was unforgivable. Unfortunately all we can do is move on.”   
  
Thundercracker nodded, looking down at his hands. “As you say, medic.”     
  
“ I do say, seeker.” he said, and finished off his cube in a single gulp. “This does not become you.”  He eyed the jet-former.     
  
“ Right.” Thundercracker finished his own cube, and offered up his arm, and medical port.   
  
“ Patience. As I said, it is going to take a while.” Still he plugged in, and began carefully teasing his way through the seeker’s code. It was an arduous task. He picked up where he left off, going one line at a time and teasing out the code they did not want. It left Ratchet feeling exasperated.  Whomever they had wrote it knew what they were doing. It only made Ratchet’s job that much harder. They had mired the coding in the seeker’s base coding. They sat there for joors as Ratchet weeded out the last of the coding.     
  
“ Mmmm...that’s it.” He said closing up Thundercracker’s ports.     
  
The seeker looked up at him blinking.  “It’s...”   
  
“ The collar has been deactivated, but I would keep it on for now, for appearances.” Ratchet said gravely. “We don’t want the council to suspect.”   
  
“ N-now what?” Thundercracker asked, shivering.     
  
Ratchet put a steadying hand on the seeker’s shoulder. “Now, you get some recharge, and I will work on a patch for the others.” He tapped the datapad. “It will not take long, since the hard part is over.”   
  
Thundercracker curled up on the berth without much urging, and drifted off into recharge.     
  
Ratchet watched the sleeping seeker, and vented softly. He hoped the others were not as damaged as this one. He could not help but feel sorry for him.

OoOoOoOo

  
Breaking in to the council building was easy enough. Going through the council's private files was  a little less so, but not much. They were careless in their arrogance, and Jazz finally found what he needed on Metalhawk’s personal terminal. Correspondence about the sparklings, and worse still, video of when they were taken in for their supposed medical treatment. Jazz watched the video, and felt like purging his tanks. Ratbat’s screams were still echoing through his processor long after the vid was over. He could not help but wonder how Thundercracker had any shred of his sanity left after being on the receiving end of his child’s cries.   
  
They had fought the war for things to end up like this? He could not help but feel bitter about it. This was a far cry from the freedom they had fought for. Still feeling ill he connected up to the system and uploaded the files in question. Optimus was waiting, after all. Jazz sped across the city faster than he had ever dared go before. He was a jittery bumble of circuits once he finally reached his Prime and handed over the information in question.   
  
Optimus reviewed the information. His face set in a grimace as he watched the vid and read through the files. “We have some tough decisions to make.” He said uneasily.   
  
Jazz met his optics. “I think...I think we should expose them in a way they cannot sweep under the rug...as the humans say.”   
  
Prime nodded, still looking grim. “I had a feeling you might say that.”

OoOoOoOo

  
“ Jazz?”  Skywarp frowned, watching the mech stumble in. Something was off. “Jazz? Are you okay?”   
  
Jazz shivered, “No...no I’m no.”   
  
Skywarp’s browplates quirked up. “You want to talk about it?”   
  
“ I...I don’t know if I can. After all this time...everything I’ve seen in the war...”   
  
“ Some things can still shake you?”   
  
“ Yes...yes they can.” Jazz said, his vents hitching.     
  
“ Show me then.” Skywarp said, unspooling one of the cables at his side.   
  
“ I don’t know...I...” His hand shook as he took the cable and plugged it in the the port on his side. He leaned into Skywarp, basking in the warmth of their shared field for a moment. He sent the information packets through the link, his tank churning as he did.   
  
Skywarp opened them up,  his ex-vents coming fast. Jazz felt the edge of his fury, but instead of recoiling he opened the link between them showing his own guilt/rage/sorrow. It hummed along the link between them, their fields pulsing with it until they simply held each other. There were no words for a long time, just the uneven hitch of Skywarp’s vents.   
  
“ How could they?” Skywarp finally said, his voice laced with static and hurt.   
  
Jazz held on a little tighter. “I don’t know. I keep asking myself, but I just don’t know.”

OoOoOoOo

  
The hack was easy enough for Jazz. He doubted they had even considered anyone might do this. Jazz doubted that it had ever occurred to the council that anyone would question their motives, or dream they would be behind something so horrible. He hacked into the main broadcast station not just to Cybertron, but to earth as well, placing the video in a loop. He didn’t even smirk as he wrote in the coding that would make it harder for the council to stop the feed. It would take them long enough to stop the feed, and by the time they did...it would be far too late.     
  
He slipped out, and into the night. Merging with the crowd he looked up at the public viewscreen, Prime’s voice booming from it. “We fought for peace, for freedom, to protect the young of all planets. And this is what the council did with that victory.” Jazz made himself watch it, his tank rolling. He watched as they brought in the injured fliers and strapped them on to the medical berths.   
  
Ratbat cried, “I want my creator. Genitor. Please.”   
  
The medics ignored him, going to Lazerbeak first, one plugging into the now struggling mechlet.  The medic read the datapad, and announced: "Confirmation. Laserbeak shares coding with Soundwave and Starscream. Spark age is fifteen vorns. The spark is stunted in growth. It should be twice the size for a normal adolescent spark.” The medic beside him took note on another data pad, and watched dispassionately as the first medic began to dismantle the still awake mechlet.   
  
Laserbeak cried out, his screams becoming terrified. “Creator, ‘tor, help me!”  His screams echoed and reverberated and were finally silent.   
  
Jazz shifted part of his attention to the aethernet. There were already rumblings. He had expected as much.   
  
Buzzsaw convulsed on the berth, his scream went on and on like a wild thing. Jazz could not watch for a moment, sickened to the bottom of his spark. The medics were equally dispassionate as they moved their attention to him. The same medic plugged in, taking notes through the entire procedure.   
  
"Confirmation. Buzzsaw shares coding with Soundwave and Starscream. Spark age is fifteen vorns. The spark is stunted in growth. It should be twice the size for a normal adolescent spark, as subject A. Confirmed they are split spark.”     
  
Jazz’s attention moved to the enforcers’ database for a moment. Crowds had already began to gather in protest in front of the council building  Not just the council building, but at the consulate on Earth as well. Most humans did not take well to the harming of young, no matter what the species. It made Jazz smile bleakly. He was far from happy inside, but this needed to happen.   
  
Buzzsaw’s screams echo in his audials, “Creator Soundwave, please help me! HELP ME!”     
  
Jazz’s tank rumbled threateningly as Buzzsaw’s spark was snuffed out, and the medics turned to Ratbat. The little one curled in on himself as much as he could bound down as he was. Still the procedure was repeated.   
  
"Confirmation. Ratbat shares coding with Soundwave and Thundercracker. Spark age is four vorns. The spark is stunted in growth, as seen in test subject A and B. Stunted spark growth. This spark is barely bigger than one newsparked.”   
  
“‘ TortortortortorHELPme!  CrackerWAVEheeeeeeelllpme!” The words ran together and stopped making sense until they had become one long and drawn out scream, which stopped abruptly.   
  
On the screen the medics could be seen dispassionately prodding the dismantled frames. “Perhaps we should have acquired the other cassettes as well. The council will not be pleased if it gets out the Decepticons had sparklings.”   
  
“ After this? We’d probably have to offline the creators to get at them. Let them go, no one cares what happens to Decepticons. Not even if they are younglings.” The second medic was laughing, laughing, as his picked up Ratbat’s helm and made a measurement.   
  
Jazz did purge his tank then, and clung to the terminal for a brief moment. The taste of old energon was in his mouth as he took his leave. Jazz could not help but flinch as he turned his back to the screen.     
  
He made his way out, discretely studying the faces of the growing crowd as he passed them. The angry, yelling crowd. It was quickly filling the street, a voice of protest rising as one. He almost felt sorry for the council. Almost. It was a fleeting thing. Not one he would entertain for long with the screams of the sparklings still in his audials.

OoOoOoOo

  
_Afterword:_   
  
Skywarp looked out of the window at the city below. It was boiling, the riots still had yet to be quelled on occasion and most of the council was in hiding, but he had no urge to go out there. To join the mob as they demanded justice. Not yet, at least. He could see Autobots, neutrals, and even a few freed Decepticons sitting in protest in front of a government building. Ratchet and Hook were sharing energon, Astrotrain was leaning in to hear something Skyfire was saying. He saw Starscream in the thick of it with Optimus and Soundwave, glad that they felt safe enough to move among the crowd. Rumble and Frenzy were playing what looked to be tag with a small group of Autobot younglings that had come with their creators.   
  
He was so wrapped up he did not hear the Autobot saboteur come up behind him, but then that was a common enough occurrence.   
  
“ That bad?” Jazz asked softly.   
  
“ No, not at all.” He let out a little self-deprecating laugh, and finally turned to look at the black and white. “Not at all.”   
  
Jazz moved closer, touching the collar, “You really don’t need to wear this any longer.” Jazz worked on the latch, letting it fall away.   
  
Skywarp touched his neck. “It’s...thank you.” He watched Jazz, and could have sighed as the other mech fidgeted.   
  
“ You---you can leave. You know that right? I already let Soundwave go live with Starscream. If you wanted to be with your brothers and nephews...”   
  
Skywarp gave him an incredulous look. “After all we’ve been through? Still you doubt? Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.”   
  
“ What?”   
  
“ I love you. I thought that was clear.” Skywarp laughed. “I do you know. Now this is the part where you tell me you love me as well. So says every Disney movie Ratbat made us watch when we were on Earth.”   
  
“ Shakespeare? And Disney? You know the latter will rot your processor, right?”   
  
“ I had a lot of free time when we were on Earth. Contrary to popular belief, I am not just a pretty face.” Skywarp frowned. “And Disney’s newer stuff wasn’t too bad.”   
  
“ No...you aren’t just a pretty face.” Jazz said, touching Skywarps cheekplate. “And...I love you too.”   
  
“ But you’re scared?”   
  
“ A little bit. I’d be a fool not to be.” Jazz gave him half a smile.   
  
“ We could be scared together.” Skywarp’s lip twitched up in amusement.   
  
Jazz sat down beside him in the window-seat overlooking the city. “We could be.” He finally said. “Is what you want?”   
  
Skywarp made a noise suspiciously like a snort, “You have to ask?”   
  
He relaxed against the other mech. “No....I guess I don’t.” Almost as an afterthought he added, “Want to go down rile up the crowd? I got a great lead on where they’re keeping Metalhawk.”   
  
Skywarp couldn’t help but chuckle. “You, my dear spark, are going to make this an adventure, aren’t you?”   
  
“ To paraphrase: To live...to live is an awfully big adventure. And I wouldn’t mind taking the rest of the journey with you.” Jazz leaned up to kiss him.   
  
A/N:   
~Thanks to Chi Shiro for being a very patient Beta. :X   
~There will be a sequel.  Or Two. Thundercracker, Soundwave and Starscream (and, yes, even Warp) have more to say.   
  
  
  
  



End file.
